Box Score
Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's basketball team earned a much needed 82-73 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference victory over Dillard University on Saturday night in Rugg Arena. The Blazers had lost their last three games coming into the game and were reeling a bit after jumping out to a 7-0 start in the conference. Belhaven got a big lift from Tensley Cowan who poured in a season high 24 points and 14 rebounds for his second double double of the year.

Belhaven (18-5, 8-3 GCAC) exploded out of the gate and built a 19-6 advantage with 13:02 remaining in the first half. Bobby Grier gave the Blazers their first lead at 5-2 on a triple and Howard capped the run with an old fashion three point play. Dillard (2-15, 0-11 GCAC) cut the Belhaven lead down to three at 26-23 with a 23-7 scoring run over the next seven minutes to get back in the game. Belhaven eventually pushed the edge back to double digits and led the Bleu Devils at the break 41-31. Dillard took a little momentum going into halftime on a last second layup by Oscar Moore right before the buzzer.

The Blazers appeared to have put the contest away midway through the second half thanks to a 22-12 run during the first 10 minutes of the final period. Cowan had just capped the run with a layup making the score 63-43 in favor of Belhaven with 9:23 on the second half clock. However, Dillard managed to trim the Blazer advantage to just six points at 71-65 with 3:33 to play in the contest and all of a sudden the Bleu Devils were alive and well. At that point, Belhaven regrouped and did not let Dillard get any closer the rest of the way in route to the victory.

Cowan's 24 points and 14 rebounds led all scorers as he was active in the paint the entire night for Belhaven. Cowan was 9 of 10 from the field and made six of nine free throw attempts. Larell Bailey had a solid night for the Blazers as well pouring in 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting from the floor. Woodie Howard rounded out the double digit scorers for Belhaven with 12 points on the night. A.J. Taylor dished out a game high six assists and had two blocked shots against Dillard.

As a team, Belhaven was on fire from the field hitting 54.5 percent of their shots which helped to offset their 29 turnovers. The Blazers made good on 33.3 percent of their triples and had a good night at the free throw line converting 72 percent of their tosses from the stripe. Belhaven had a big edge on the boards with a 51-35 rebounding margin over the Bleu Devils.

Dillard had three players reach double figures in scoring led by Autrail Manning with 21 points. James Burkes added 15 points and Cornice Wingate tallied 14 points in the contest for the Bleu Devils. Myron McGowan paced Dillard in rebounding with eight boards and Oscar Moore finished with five rebounds on the night. Belhaven held Dillard to a 31.5 percent shooting clip from the field and the Bleu Devils only connected on 20.8 percent of their three pointers. Dillard converted 75.9 percent of their free throws.

Belhaven will be back in action on Monday night when they travel to William Carey University for another GCAC matchup with the Crusaders. The Blazers edged William Carey 79-78 in their first meeting of the season on January 9th. Monday night's tipoff is slated for 7:30 PM.